Penny Marshall, ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Star Turned Director, Dies at 75

She starred for eight seasons on the ABC ratings hit, created by her late brother Garry Marshall, and directed such films as ‘Big,’ ‘A League of Their Own’ and ‘Awakenings.’

Penny Marshall, the nasally and good-natured Bronx native who starred on the ABC ratings sensation Laverne & Shirley before shattering records as a top-grossing female director in Hollywood, has died. She was 75.

The younger sister of the late writer-director-producer Garry Marshall and the first wife of actor-director Rob Reiner, Marshall died from complications from diabetes, her publicist told the New York Daily News. She was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in 2009.

Marshall earned fame — but, incredibly not even one Emmy nomination — for playing the wisecracking Laverne DeFazio on the Happy Days spinoff created by her brother. Laverne & Shirley, which aired for eight seasons from 1976-83, centered on the escapades of two romantically challenged Milwaukee brewery workers, with Cindy Williams co-starring as Marshall’s idealistic roommate, Shirley Feeney.

She directed a handful of episodes of the sitcom, then was approached to step in as a last-minute replacement for Howard Zieff to helm the feature comedy Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986), starring Whoopi Goldberg.